Shimizu tried to shout Natsue's name—
But no sound would come out, no matter how hard he tried.
He reached for her waving right hand—
Yet his left hand passed through her figure again and again.
Am I dead?
Was everything just my hallucination?
"This is not where you're meant to be," Natsue said softly. She gently pushed him. "Go back…"
"Natsue!!" Shimizu cried out her name, only to instantly swallow a huge mouthful of seawater. His eyes snapped open. He was surrounded by the pitch-black gloom of the seabed.
He was slowly sinking into the deep ocean.
A jolt of adrenaline surged through him. Panicked, he began to thrash his limbs, trying to swim toward the surface.
Wait... air?!
He suddenly realized—
He could breathe underwater.
His mind wasn't broken. He knew he was still Shimizu Uzuki. He hadn't reincarnated as a fish.
But how could a ninja breathe underwater?
He raised his left hand and touched his cheek.
There was a strange slit-like texture—like shark gills.
He had grown gills.
That was how he could breathe underwater.
The first image that came to mind was Kisame Hoshigaki, the shark-like shinobi.
God, if I've turned into a monster like that, I might as well commit seppuku to apologize to the world...
As he swam toward the surface, Shimizu soon encountered the lingering fury of the Water Dragon Bullet.
It wasn't just a single dragon; within his field of vision, hundreds of them still roamed the water, roaring in a lingering frenzy.
Just how monstrous was the Three-Tails' ultimate Water Release?
His underwater speed was limited.
He likely couldn't escape the encirclement of those water dragons.
If I've already got gills, I might as well grow some fins too… then I could escape this sea entirely…
As if in response to his thought, a transparent membrane grew between his fingers and toes. Webbing?!
Suppressing his shock, Shimizu glanced at the half-body of the strange fish still biting into his abdomen.
Was it his imagination?
It felt like the creature was burrowing deeper into his flesh.
He shook off the absurd thought.
Kicking his limbs forcefully, his swimming speed instantly increased.
He quickly escaped the devastated sea zone.
...
The moon hung bright in a sparsely starred sky.
The vast ocean had grown quiet, with only gentle ripples remaining.
Along the way, Shimizu saw no sign of Isobu.
Perhaps the Three-Tails had assumed he had already perished in the sea and thus hadn't pursued him further.
Otherwise, judging by the intelligence it had shown, it would never have spared his life.
Escaping death once again had ignited his survival instinct to its peak.
His mind held only one thought—
Get as far away from this ocean as possible.
After maintaining high-speed swimming for several hours, he finally found a shoreline.
At last, he reached land.
The solid sensation of sand beneath his feet allowed him to relax the tension that had gripped him for so long.
Dragging his heavily wounded body, he had no idea how far he had traveled.
Two hundred kilometers?
Perhaps farther.
After all, he had been in the water for at least five hours.
The moment he stepped ashore, the webbing between his fingers and toes receded.
The gills on his face vanished.
He had completely returned to a normal human appearance.
"Pretty useful," he muttered, unsure whether to feel fortunate or uneasy.
He lowered his gaze to his abdominal wound.
The half-bodied strange fish was gone.
It had almost entirely fused into his flesh.
Shimizu couldn't determine what had caused such a transformation.
But he wasn't foolish.
Thinking back carefully—
From the moment he effortlessly cast Water Wall without obstruction, the strange fish had already begun altering his constitution.
Until eventually—
It had fully merged with his body.
What kind of fish was that?
How could it be so abnormal?
Had they completely fused into one being?
Shimizu gave a bitter smile.
"At least I don't look like some kind of alien."
Judging from his narrow escape—
Survival had been their shared objective.
In a sense…
They were strategic partners now.
...
Dragging his utterly exhausted body step by step toward the dense forest along the shore, Shimizu had no way of determining his exact location.
Nearly everything he carried had been lost in that catastrophe—
The longsword that had accompanied him for years.
The Second Hokage's ninjutsu scroll.
Dozens of explosive tags.
Several kunai and shuriken.
Soldier pills and compressed rations.
His ANBU mask.
Even his map.
Judging by the temperature, however, he had likely drifted to a more southern region.
Perhaps he had already reached the territory of the Land of Water.
Or maybe one of its southern island chains.
Wilderness survival—even with chakra depleted and his body injured—was a trivial matter for a ninja.
As he walked, he carefully replayed every detail of his battle with Isobu.
He had to admit—
He had severely misjudged the Three-Tails' level of intelligence.
More than that, Isobu had been clever.
When it stopped recklessly releasing large-scale, high-power techniques and instead shifted to high-precision, high-speed Water Release attacks, he should have completely reclassified it as an experienced ninja-level opponent.
No mere beast could display that kind of intellect.
After only a few exchanges, it had identified his weaknesses.
It had laid traps consecutively.
It had even perceived that Instant Water required water as a medium to activate.
That demanded considerable intelligence.
He could only say…
Isobu's turtle-like appearance had made it too easy to label it as a "stupid creature."
Prejudice.
If not for that assumption—
He should have been able to completely dodge the first Water Continuous Bullets that left him half-crippled.
He wouldn't have been forced into a final situation where direct confrontation was his only option.
One wrong step—
And every step after followed into error.
Yet it was precisely because of that mistake…
That he had gained extraordinary affinity with Water Release.
Even the miraculous ability to breathe underwater.
And it was because of that mistake…
That he had been driven into despair—
And seen Natsue once more.
Was it really a hallucination?
Even he was no longer certain.
Logically speaking, of course she could not have appeared in that deep sea.
But the memory of her pushing him—
That sensation had been vivid.
It was that push that jolted him awake from unconsciousness.
Did reincarnation exist after death?
Was death truly the end of life?
Regardless—
It had been Natsue who "woke" him.
In a certain sense—
She had saved his life.
The dead were gone.
In the ninja world, there was little room for prolonged mourning.
Even those who died for Konoha received nothing more than a stone monument engraved with their name.
Too many unexpected events had happened along this journey.
Shimizu shook his throbbing head, trying to clear his thoughts.
Right now, three matters were critical:
First, recover his stamina and chakra as quickly as possible. He urgently needed food to restore strength and heal his body.
Second, determine his exact location and contact Konoha and the Hidden Hot Water Village as soon as possible.
Third, figure out whether the strange fish fused within him carried any serious side effects.
After all, it had originally been a summoned creature of Isobu.
No one knew whether it might someday turn into an "alien" and devour its host.
He considered whether he should tell Tsunade everything and ask for her advice.
With her medical expertise, perhaps she could separate that palm-sized creature from his body.
…But if it really came to that—
It would be a pity to lose that exceptional Water Release affinity.
And the ability to breathe underwater.